MEXICANARTISTS. 83 
The statue is Equestrian. The monarch is represented in Roman cos- 
tume, his brow bound with a wreath of laurel, and in the act of curb- 
ing his horse with his left hand, while his right extends a truncheon. 
An antique sword rests on his thigh, and an imperial robe flows in easy 
folds from his shoulders covering the haunches of the horse, who is mov- 
ing forward, and trampling on a quiver of arrows. The face of Charles 
was not remarkable for dignity or command, so that, in order to preserve 
the resemblance, the artist has been obliged to throw all the power of 
his work into the figure. But the result has been a statue of great ma- 
jesty, and worthy of the most judicious praise. Although the model 
of the horse is certainly good, and the dimensions well preserved in the 
colossal size, yet it is quite evident that the artist had only {he Mexican 
animal in his mind's eye when he moulded his masterpiece. The chief 
defects, as well as I was able to judge in its present unfavorable position, 
were disproportions in the neck and haunches ; the former being entirely 
too thick and large, while the latter are too heavy and small, both for 
the legs of the animal and the figure they support. The drapery of the 
sovereign, the saddle-cloth, sword, bridle, a Medusa head on the mar- 
tingale, and all the accessories, are admirably finished in the highest 
style of art. One of the most severe and tasteful critics who ever saw 
itj compares this work of the native Mexican with the famous statue of 
Marcus Aurelius at Rome, which has so frequently been the theme of 
praise by the most learned sculptors of the Old World. 
Indeed, the art of imitating nature in statuary, is a talent perhaps no- 
where more common than in Mexico. I do not mean by this, that fine 
sculpture is common there ; but I know of few places where there is 
more talent to produce it. 
The moment a stranger arrives in Mexico he is besieged by a host of 
wax-figure makers, with small statues of the costumes and trades of the 
country. These, it is true, are cast in moulds, but the talent is not the 
less remarkable. They are admirably executed. Dress, feature, de- 
meanor, action, are all caught and faithfully depicted to the very life, 
and no collection can be more worthily adorned than by a series of these 
figures. You can obtain them of any size, or any subject ; and although 
the materials are frail, they may be safely transported from the Capital 
to the coast. If these statuettes are wonderful, their makers are not less 
so. You would be astonished to see the artist, who produces a gem of a 
figure which in Europe would command a couple of doubloons. A little 
room up two pairs of ricketty stairs, just large enough to turn in, where 
his wife cooks and sleeps with two or three children in one corner; while 
he, with his lump of wax and his portable furnace, stands working, mould- 
ing and dressing his figures in another. Such is the atelier, while the 
man himself, is scarcely distinguishable from the commonest Uperos. 
